Introduction

Disillusioned with our corrupt government and broken electoral system? Are politics dirty, unconscionable, horrific, and you cannot even stand the thought of watching another candidacy ad or debate? Does the thought of politics make your stomach turn? When a politician speaks do you always expect to see their horribly forked and reptilian tongue? Do you think that politicians don’t really care and don’t represent you? Feel like your vote does not matter… at all!?!

Believe me, I get it. I did not vote for many years and I did not care at all about politics because of thoughts like those… until my 30’s when I really started to care about one issue in particular which sparked a raging fire in me that has not subsided to this day.

From that moment over 10 years ago I have blogged at length about various political issues, especially during the 2016 electoral season when I penned the following very important posts which you really should read which can help you understand why we have the broken electoral system that we have now and what needs to be done to correct it. Perhaps they may even give you a sense of hope and drive, and maybe even inspire you to become part of the solution:

Read this article: This following post does a great job of explaining a lot of the reasons why you should vote: 7 Reasons to Vote in this Years’s Election. I will pull some from this comprehensive post from the Huffington Post for it sets the tone wonderfully. Please take the time to read it.

Voting is About as American as it Gets!

I eat apple pie, fireworks , and freedom for breakfast! I am an American!!!

Voting is as American as apple pie, fireworks, and bald eagles. Our Founding Fathers fought for, and many American patriots died for your right to vote. Do NOT disrespect their sacrifice by not voting!

For every person that does not vote, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and all of the many citizen soldiers of the American Revolution all roll over in their grave screaming out in rancid rage as their Revolution and their many sacrifices are being betrayed… by you… not… voting!!!!!

Not voting, my friend, is completely unAmerican and very unpatriotic! It is your constitutionally granted right, your civic duty; your responsibility to yourself, to the American people, and to the world to have your voice heard and to have your vote counted.

Hell, even the Statue of Liberty sheds a tear each time someone does not vote. Come on your heartless bastard!! Do you really want to make the Statue of Liberty cry?!?

Be a patriot and a real American, and cast your vote, because real Americans vote!!!!

How do I Know Your Vote Matters?

I know your vote matters because of these three items:

Not Everyone has had the Right to Vote

Statue of Liberty Crying

Not everyone has had the right to vote in the US. At first it was just land-owning white males which was barely 6% of the colonial population. Many people fought and died over many years for your right to vote, especially women and minorities, and this battle is still not over today. Voting Rights in the US (Wikipedia).

Non-white men and freed male slaves are guaranteed the right to vote in 1870 although Southern states suppressed the voting rights of black and poor white voters through Jim Crow Laws. Black males in the Northern states could vote, but the majority of African Americans lived in the South.

Women did not get the right to vote until 1920 although still faced poverty and racial issues.

Native Americans did not get the right to vote until 1924

Chinese Immigrants were given the right to vote in 1943

Minorities, especially African Americans had their rights to vote protected by the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (Which was recently gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. Pretty much the day following that disastrous decision quite a states passed voter suppression laws which we are still keeping people from casting their vote.).

Even today minorities and the poverty stricken are still fighting against significant suppression of their right to vote and many people still cannot vote. You should feel lucky if you are able to vote so do not take it for granted for you never know when they will try to keep you from voting.

Spending Billions for Your Vote

The political parties and the corporations would not have spent over 6 billion dollars during the 2016 election if your vote was not important. That is $6,000,000,000 in advertising to influence your vote!! You vote is worth a lot to them and it should be worth a lot to you.

collusion with news channels to control bias for their candidates and against others

collusion with debate facilitators to get debate questions

… if your vote did not matter. Why would they be spending all of this money and going through all of this trouble if your vote did not matter? Through decades and decades of fighting against you they have just successfully convinced you that your vote does not matter so they can save themselves a lot work. Do not give in to that. Do not let them win.

My post My Thoughts for Electoral Reform which is 8 pages of a mostly a bullet-pointed list that goes through trying to fix all of the ways they have tried to subvert the electoral process and to keep your vote from mattering. This is a very big post. This should tell you just how important your vote is if, throughout our history, that these things have been done in order to influence, control, eliminate, or mitigate your right to vote.

Wake up, you non-voting freak! IT DOES MATTER TO THEM!

And it should matter to YOU!

Not voting is NOT protest. It is Surrender.

Non-Voters are the Largest Voting Block

We didn’t vote because it won’t make a difference.

Not voting is NOT protest since many, many Americans already do not vote:

40% do not vote during presidential elections

60% do not vote during midterm elections

Nonvoters are the largest electoral demographic, so you are not at all unique when you decide to NOT vote. You are one of too many and that needs to change. Not voting will definitely never change anything. Doing nothing is NOT doing something.

Surrendering to Corruption

You may not care about politics or voting, but guess who does care and why? The corporations and the rich care because they know the power and benefit of having their voice heard in government because they greatly benefit from it while We the People pay the price. Not voting is surrendering America over to corruption and corporate control. You are waving a white flag and not even attempting to say “Hey, wait a minute. What about me? What about We the People?“.

Not voting is surrender to the corrupt system and letting the rich and corporations win without even a token resistance. By not voting you are shirking your civic duty to have your voice heard and to challenge the corruption and calling it out for what it is – corrupt. Imagine what would happen if that mass of non-voting Americans (40%-60% of the electorate) actually voted in each election? imagine if all of those millions of American voices were really heard through their collective vote!

Not voting means the corrupt process and the corporations and rich automatically win and you did not care enough to even help stop that by taking a moment to cast your vote. People are suffering all throughout this country because you did not care enough to vote, to have your voice heard. If you cared enough to buy some lottery tickets once or bought that Starbucks coffee, etc… then you should care enough to cast you vote… honestly.

Do you really want to be partially responsible for allowing corporations to automatically win while you and your friends and family and the rest of America suffer the consequences, because the corporations and their paid-for politicians will always vote against you?

Making it Easier to Defraud

For every vote cast, it is one more vote that has to be side-stepped, manipulated, or mitigated. They cannot defraud all of the votes. For each and every vote they have to change it makes it easier and more obvious that fraud is happening. Each and every vote they have to defraud carries a psychological weight to it and makes it harder to do and it makes each successive attempt by each party and group or actors more difficult. If nearly 90% of the votes in an area have to be changed by a defrauding party then that makes it harder to hide and do effectively, as well as making them more reluctant to do it next time. Do not make it easy for them. Make them suffer and have to work harder while attempting to subvert our democracy and your vote. Do NOT make it easy for them. Do NOT be an accomplice to the elite’s subversion of our country by NOT voting.

At least have the American Spine enough to NOT kneel and to stand up before these corporations who presume themselves to be our masters, and to tell them:

“NO! Not today. Not on my watch! Not in My America!To the POLLSSSS, my fellow Americans! These usurpers must be banished!!!!“

What’s at Stake During an Election?

It is not just the president on the ballot!!

In each election there are candidates, referendum, questions, and so on that will affect various aspects of your life such as such issues:

taxes

education

health care

access to things like abortion,

right to carry firearms or your right to not be killed by one

LGBTQ and other minority rights

social and welfare programs

science and research

environment and sustainability

roads, highways, and dams

And the list goes on and on. You never know just who or what you will find in any given election. To sort of quote Forest Gump:

Each election is like a box of chocolates. You just never know what you are going to get inside.

Voter Gump

There are also other very important state and local officeholders on the ballot too. You can make a difference with local positions on the ballot which are much less likely be be defrauded and can make more a difference in your life because it is closer to you. Your vote matters and can make a difference.

Federal Officials

If you are NOT keen on the current regime then you really, really want to make sure you and everyone else votes during the midterms to help turn the tide in congress so you can mitigate the potential damage. We found this out very strongly with Obama because in the midterm elections congress swept conservative because we only have 40% of the electorate voting!!! We may see this phenomenon happen again this year too.

Federal positions matter because broad and sweeping national changes can be made:

foreign policy and UN

election integrity

warmongering and policy actions

immigration policy and humanitarian aid

taxes, minimum wage, and income inequality

environmental policy and sustainable energy

healthcare

school budgets and testing policy

the funding of NASA and sciences.

bailouts and corporate welfare

State Officials

Much like congress and the president, voting for your state representatives can help or hinder the power of the governor, as well as put into place people who could support you and your issues at the state level. Here they have the power to radically transform a state’s economy for the short and long term like what we saw with the radical changes in leadership in Wisconsin and Minnesota over the last few terms, both of which switched to opposite leadership. One state fell to the bottom and the other rose to the top with a powerful economic surplus.

Local Officials

Your vote matters especially when there are local elections such as county and city races present on the ballot. Local elections are a powerful place where you can make an immediate difference for you and for your family because you are electing someone who will deal with your immediate world such as your city and county administrations. Positions such as:

County

County Board – zoning, planning, health, environment

County Clerk – election integrity

County Treasurer – property taxes

Sheriff – law enforcement and ethics

Highway Department – roads and infrastructure

City

School Board – school conditions and curriculum

Mayor – goals for city, tourism, local taxation

Police Chief – law enforcement and ethics

Fire Chief – fire fighting and community service

These are also the local positions where you have direct access to and are able to walk right into their offices, verses state and federal positions which can be much more difficult to so because they can be farther away and harder to influence or to be heard because you did not donate enough to their reelection campaign for them to really care about your opinion and needs.

Third Parties and Independents

Local elections are also a place where independents and third-parties can get their start and have a powerful effect by running for local elections because the competition is not so stiff, and there may even be no one else running for a given position except for the incumbent. If you are not keen on voting for one of the mainstream candidates then this can be a powerful place to lend your vote to support a third-party and to support a more diverse and thriving political environment by giving your community more real choices for the various offices.

New People Running for Office

Local races are also where people who are new to running for office get their start and it is here where you can spot and support a rising star in the making. You could say that you were there on ground floor for that candidate and could really make a difference in their local campaign. This is also a great way to meet a new candidate and to really be heard. Bernie Sanders won his first election by 10 votes. Imagine what would have happened if 11 people decided to not show up and vote?

Referendums/Questions

There may be local, state, or national referendums on the ballot where you can vote on the issues directly. Some states like California even have citizen referendums, so this may be more common in your state.

On my ballot for this year I have 4 questions/referendums/measures which are the following:

Sauk County Constitution Referendum Question 1:Should the Constitution of the United States of America be amended to state: Only human beings are endowed with constitutional rights – not corporations, unions, nonprofits or other artificial entities?

Sauk County Constitution Referendum Question 2Should the Constitution of the United States of America be amended to state: Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting speech?

Sauk County Medical Marijuana QuestionShould the State of Wisconsin legalize marijuana so that people with debilitating medical conditions may access medical marijuana if they have a recommendation from a licensed Wisconsin physician?

Sauk County Redistricting ReferendumShould the Wisconsin legislature create a nonpartisan procedure for the preparation of legislative and congressional redistricting plans?

Do you really want to miss having your voice heard in these important matters? Help be apart of the solution!! Have your voice heard! Freaking VOTE already!

Power-Up Your Electoral Voice!

Make Sure You are Ready and Able to Vote

Empower yourself and take responsibility for your vote because only you can cast it. No one else can cast your vote or have your electoral voice heard.

If you need help with any of this, please ask because there are voter support groups who help with this. Many do voter registration drives which may be publicized. Perhaps the party or activist group you are a member of or that you support may also be willing to help you with this. You can ask the county clerk for resources too.

If you really want your vote to count and to really matter then you need to do the following:

Gather Your Voting Support Group

there are other activist organizations that have voter pledges and reminders

Record a quick video on YouTube or Facebook about why you are going to vote and ask your followers to pledge to vote too. #VotingPledge2018

Get a Voting Buddy: Find a person to go to the polls with so you can vote together and can help to make sure you both are able and will vote. The more people that vote the better.

4 More Voices: Talk to at least 4 more people and tell them you are voting, and convince them to vote. If they are not sure or a not going to vote, then tell them why you are voting, or even send them a link to my post here.

Have Your Voice Heard

GO VOTE!!! Exercise your right to vote and have your voice heard!!!

Verify Your Ballot: Especially, if you vote electronically, verify that your votes are recorded correctly. If not you need to tell someone to see if this can be corrected. If it is not able to be corrected them demand a paper ballot. If it goes on long enough you may even want to report it as below and let people in your local area know through social networking. Once you are in line do NOT leave until you have voted. You have the right to vote.

Report Election Issues:

Social Networks: to your social networks so that all in your local area know and so that evidence is available for all to see. Use pictures and live-streamed video too.

DoJ: to the Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline (800-253-3931)

ACLU: to the ACLU through their Election Protection Hotline (866-OUR-VOTE)

Attorney: to an attorney if you believe that your rights have been violated

Celebrate! Reward yourself for being a responsible adult and participating in the democratic process, and for having your voice heard. Perhaps even take the day off to celebrate or to help other less fortunate people with the process.

What Not To Do When Voting:

Never Ever Vote Out of Fear

Voting out of fear is coercion and not choice!

This setup is called “controlled opposition” AKA manipulating people’s emotions to make them think they have a meaningful choice.

This is a very powerful technique used by both parties and is especially predominant among conservatives. They manipulate you to vote for one of the two corporate owned parties through fear of the other winning. “Vote for me or that other person will win and you do NOT want that!” This is called controlled opposition.

Never vote for a candidate, especially a Republican or a Democrat, out of fear of the other party’s person. If you vote out of fear then the corporations will always win, your vote is not honest, and you will never, ever get candidates in office that really support you. If every person saw through this psychologically manipulative technique called controlled opposition and voted for who they really wanted to win, then the electoral landscape would be wildly different.

Vote for the candidate that truly represents you and the issues you care about and NOT against the candidate your fear.

When I first started getting involved with politics, by default I sided with Democrats because that is all I knew, and in 2012 I voted my fears and not for who I wanted. I will never ever do so again! If you do vote out of fear then the corporations will always win. If the corporations win, then you, We the People, and the rest of the world loses. Do you really want that? Really? Think of the children!!!

No Lesser-of Two-Evil Voting

It is your civic duty to vote for the candidate that best represents you and: not the lesser of two evils; not out of spite; not out of fear; not the most electable. If you fail in this duty you are responsible for the decline of democracy.

Voting for the Lesser-of-Two-Evils (voting out of fear) is still voting for evil (is still voting out of fear) and that is how we got into this agonizing sociopolitical and economic place in the first place. My post Systemic Suppression with America’s Two Party System explains how and why this has happened. You cannot vote for the same parties and their candidates that caused our current problems in order to solve the problem.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results!

In each party there may be candidates that stand out and that really matter to you and your issues. You need to sift through the corrupt and paid for candidates to find the ones that are running that actually care. You may be able to join a mailing list for an activist group that supports your values to help guide you in your search for quality candidates.

Do Not Succumb to the Manipulative Force of Identity Politics

Be apart of the war against the corporations’ ability to manipulate you to vote for them by how they choose the candidates they put before you and how they present their candidates based on how people will respond to them by virtue of inherent identifiers that people may emotionally respond to such as:

race

gender

background

religion

sexuality

class

beliefs

language spoken

… and anything else. They will use these as a way of manipulating you to vote for their corporate controlled candidate based off a knee-jerk emotional reaction (They are like me!) which is identity politics.

If they can catch your vote like this then you will not look closer at their voting record or their history. This is something you need to educate yourself on and to be aware of as a technique they are using to get you to vote against your interests and the interests of the American people. Both parties do it, so you need to really guard yourself from this method of emotional and psychological control. They will also use rhetoric that effuses identity politics too which can guilt you or manipulate you in to voting for them, when you normally would not, especially once you understand their record.

Do NOT allow your vote to be blindly cast by identity politics or its emotional manipulation which is a huge problem in all political arenas as we saw in the last few electoral cycles:

women voting for the female candidate just because the candidate is a woman

African Americans voting for the black candidate just because just because the candidate is African American

Christians voting for the candidate that calls themselves Christian

Democrats blindly voting for a Democrat

Republicans blindly voting for a Republicans

candidates making calls to racism, sexism, loyalty, feminism, pride, religion, loyalty, patriotism, nationalism, or other form of emotional manipulation to get you to vote for them and not for the other person.

Keep in mind, they do this to get you to look away from the issues and their voting records by appealing to your emotions. An unthinking vote is a vote they did not have to earn or work for. It is candy to them. Do NOT feed those corrupt political animals!!

A candidate bearing an identity label that you identify with does not mean they give a crap about the issues you do or the issues that would expect this specific type of candidate to care about or support. Research to be sure, and do not allow you emotions to blind you to the truth about their voting record and their true beliefs and motives. Their voting record will speak louder than their campaigning words ever could. The very moment you think they are like you, their trap has been sprung. Prepare and guard yourself against this powerful method of manipulation.

Do NOT Rely on Debates for Your Analysis

Many debates that people watch are carefully scripted (as are the audience questions) and are strictly controlled by the Republican and Democratic parties and their corporate owners so that the issues that really matter to the people are not really discussed in any relevant detail, and so that they have careful control over the process and how their candidates are presented to the people.

This is painfully true with the Presidential Debates which I talk about in my post on the System Suppression in America’s Two-Part System. The Commission for Presidential Debates (CPD) is a private corporate entity run by Republicans and Democrats and their corporate sponsors. Their candidates are also barred from outside debates which helps to keep third parties from participating or gaining any access to the presidential candidacy stage which is a great travesty of the democratic process and keeps the corporations in charge of our electoral process and keeps them in control of who the American people will consider to vote for.

This corruption of the debate process is a far cry from the origins of candidate debates which started with the activist organization The League of Women Voters (LWV) whose members wanted real answers to real questions which why the corporations co-opted the debate process with a carefully controlled corporate entity. We need to return to activist run and open debates so the people and their issues get real answers and consideration, and so America’s other parties can truly participate in the debate.

If you see a debate or town hall on TV check which channel it is on for media bias, check who is sponsoring it, and who is running the debate to look for any bias or agenda they may have. You need to protect your self. There a few activist organizations such as Democracy Now or independent news channels such as The Young Turks which run debates, town halls, and interviews with various third-party and other candidates too.

Do NOT Allow General Polling OR Exit Polls to Influence You

It does not matter who the online polls say is going to win, because it is easy to fill out a poll – a few clicks and Bam! done. Plus those polls can be skewed by its viewership – a conservative station with a poll will be biased towards conservative candidates and a more liberal station will be biased towards liberal candidates. Voting takes a lot more work especially with as much suppression as their is going on. And, as we discussed earlier, 40%-60% of the electorate does not vote which includes many of the people that took that poll. Not everyone who fills out a poll will be voting so those polls will NOT be accurate and such skewed polls can be a powerful tool they can use to get you to NOT vote.

NO, It is NOT Obvious who is Going to Win!!

In the 2016 electoral cycle many thought it was a foregone conclusion that Bernie Sanders was going to be the Democratic Candidate and that did not happen. Many thought the Hillary was going to soundly beat Donald Trump. Well, that did not happen either. History is full of these moments of sure wins that never happened. How many people did not vote to allow these upsets to happen?

Who is going to win is not a foregone conclusion even if your state normally votes red or blue. Wisconsin and Minnesota switched Governors near 2008/2010 with drastic results for both states. Then there is also the effect of the rising tides of social and political movements and civil unrest which can radically change the outcome of elections as we are seeing in the last election or two, and even now.

This is even more powerful due to the level of corruption that there is with the process and because of how few people actually vote. If everyone voted the issues, especially the 40%-60% of non-voters, then the electoral landscape would change drastically and we would have more than two parties to represent the people.

What You NEED To Do When Voting:

Cast Your Vote Based on Issues

Let your issues and reason carry your vote and not your emotions, because your emotions are a powerful manipulative force that can easily blind you.

Let your issues and reason carry your vote and not your emotions, because your emotions are a powerful manipulative force that can easily blind you. Cast your vote based on the issues you support. Do NOT cast your vote through blind loyalty to a party (which is Identify Politics). Never give a party and their candidates a blank check for your vote. Make them earn it, otherwise they will take you for granted because they can. Do NOT allow your vote to be cheated from you by manipulation through rhetorical calls to Identity Politics or fear mongering. Let your issues and reason carry your vote and not your emotions, because your emotions are a powerful manipulative force that can easily blind you.

Educate yourself on the issues that matter to you and find those candidates who support those issues regardless of their party. Use various online resources to help educate yourself to find the candidates that are most aligned with your ideals. You may be surprised. I know I was when I took the amazing I Side With test.

I’d rather vote for something i want and not get it than vote for something i don’t want and get it. – Eugene Debs

If you do NOT vote for the candidate that really supports the issues that matter to you, then you betray not only yourself and the issues that are important to you, but you also betray your country for your voice is not truly heard; and every voice that is lost, and every vote that is not cast honestly, is a win for corporations and their corruption, as well as resulting in the perversion of the democratic process and America. If you do not vote for the candidate that truly supports you and your issues then you cannot be surprised when they vote against them and speak out against them when they get in office. You get what you vote for so research their record carefully.

In a Democracy, The People Get the Government They Deserve.

Hunter S. Thompson

Consider All Available Party Options

Did you know that Republican and Democrats are not the majority voting group in the US? Independents (those who prefer to NOT vote for Republicans and Democrats) are the largest (43%) and fastest growing voter group in America? Independents are the majority of voting Americans.

Since most Americans already prefer third-parties, then you will want to seriously consider all of the political party options, not just the two corporate owned parties (Republicans and Democrats) if you truly want your voice to be heard. There are many parties in the US (Republican, Constitution, Libertarian, Democrat, Communist, Working Families Party, Green Party, Socialists, and many, many more), with many different policy positions. This is especially useful for local elections where the third parties can have more of a presence and where your support can have a significant impact to have your voice heard. National and State elections are a little more difficult for third parties to get access to, unfortunately.

The more people vote for third-parties especially on the national level, the more their policies are harder to ignore, and the more they will push the duopoly to expand and embrace other positions instead of being ideologically entrenched. We have seen this will the Libertarian movement as represented by the Tea Party within the Republican Party and we are seeing it now in 2019 with the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s use of the Green Party’s Green New Deal. Every vote for a third party matters. (Third Party Candidates)

In 2012 when I found out about the Green Party through the I Side With test and found out that other parties existed, I was exposed to their values and platform which greatly increased my understanding of what is possible and what another party could believe and support. This powerful realization and awakening radically change my newly forming political stance and allowed me to grow and evolve politically. You may be surprised too once you open yourself and consider other political parties.

Check the Candidates’ Historical Voting Record

If you find a candidate you like then you need to check their voting record, for that means more to you than anything that comes out of their mouth, especially their catchy campaign slogan. Many politicians will say whatever their constituency wants to hear during election season and then vote against it during their term to which their manipulative calls to identity politics and fear mongering can help to hide from you. Words can easily be politically expedient – changed to get the votes so they can stay in office – and then their votes on the issues during office will tell you who they really support – you or their corporate owners. Their historical voting record speaks louder on the issues than anything they could possibly say. If you want real change then you must vote for the candidate that actually wants to bring change and votes for it too, and not the one who just says so during election season to cheat you out of your precious vote.

Follow the Money

If you really want to know who they support, then check the money trail to see who is supporting them, especially the dark money trail. Find out if they accept corporate money or if they only take money only from people like you and me. Who they accept money from can have drastic effect on their voting and tell you who they really serve. If they accept corporate money then they are more likely to serve the corporations because their pockets are thousands and thousands of dollars deeper than ours are. If they only take money from the people and do not accept corporate money then that candidate is more likely to serve the people who voted for them.

Conclusion

You NEED to vote. Tell yourself whatever reason you need in order make it to the polls to vote. Work with whoever you need to in order to get you to the polls so you can cast your vote. We need to work together in order to ensure we all have the chance to have our voices heard at the polls because it is one of the very few ways the voice of the people can be heard in government.

Here are some reasons to convince yourself to vote:

it is your American duty

it is patriotic to do so

because you do not the Statue of Liberty to cry… again

you care about some specific issues which will affect you or someone you know

so you can have your voice heard

you want to honor the fallen and those how have died for your right to vote

the corporations do NOT want you to. (Be a rebel! Stand up to the man!)

because it is on a Tuesday and Tuesdays are awesome… and so are you!

If you do not want to cast your vote for yourself, then please take the time to cast your vote in honor of those who were denied the ability to vote, for there are many who still cannot vote yet due to oppressive voting laws or whose votes are mitigated by Gerrymandering or other corrupt methods. Cast your precious vote for those who cannot. Help your fellow Americans out, give them a voice which can be heard through the political noise by casting your vote.

I don’t care what you tell yourself or whether or not you care about voting. Just get your ASS into the polls and cast your honest vote for the candidate that truly supports the issues that you care about. Anything else is a betrayal of your country, your fellow Americans, and the people that died for your right to vote.